805 Billion KRW Agri-Food Fund Raised in H1... Investment in Green Bio and More

Selection of Private Operators on the 21st... Full-Scale Investment in the Second Half

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs announced on the 23rd that it plans to raise an 80.5 billion KRW agricultural and food fund in the first half of the year to invest in six promising sectors including Green Bio.

The agricultural and food mother fund will contribute 52.7 billion KRW, and the private sector will invest 27.8 billion KRW. The selection of private asset management companies was completed on the 21st, and full-scale investment will begin in the second half of the year.

First, new funds of 15 billion KRW each for Green Bio and Smart Agriculture will be established to invest in promising venture companies.

The Green Bio fund will focus investments on five major sectors of Green Bio, including microbiomes, alternative foods, and medifoods. The Smart Agriculture fund will mainly invest in smart farm technologies and five major sectors related to carbon neutrality.

Funds such as the Young Farmers Fund (10.5 billion KRW) supporting young entrepreneurial farmers, the Micro Fund (6.5 billion KRW) making small investments in small-scale companies, the Agri-food Venture Fund (12.5 billion KRW) investing in early-stage venture agri-food companies, and the Agri-food General Fund (21 billion KRW) with unrestricted investment will be established and begin investing in the second half of the year.

Additionally, a Secondary Fund (20 billion KRW) linked to agri-food companies at the investment recovery stage and an additional Agri-food General Fund (18 billion KRW) will be raised within this year. Asset management companies will be selected and announced by the end of this month.

Asset management companies that invest 25% in the first year and exceed annual investment by more than 5 percentage points will be given additional points when selecting the next agri-food fund management company to encourage investment.

A Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs official said, "To create new growth engines, we will increase investments in Green Bio, smart farms, and carbon neutrality sectors and complement the agri-food fund investment ecosystem," adding, "We plan to actively support competitive agri-food management entities to grow."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.